LGoS Impact Report 2010/11

Impact Report Liverpool Guild of Students

February 2012

2

Welcome I am pleased to present the 2010/11 Liverpool Guild of Students Impact Report. Over the next few pages you’ll be able to see just some of the fantastic things students at the University of Liverpool have achieved this year. From a record breaking turnout in our officer elections, to winning awards for our innovative projects there is much to be proud of. Liverpool students are more active than ever, making positive changes on their courses, in the Guild and in the community.

Over the past year, Liverpool students have played an active part in campaigning for a fairer funding system; working with Liverpool Students’ Union and Liverpool Hope Students’ Union, nine buses of students went to London to take part in NUS’ Demonstration against £9000 tuition fees. Students also took part in the Lobby of Parliament on the day tuition fees were voted on in the Commons, and participated in the TUC’s march on cuts. And these campaigns have gone hand-in-hand with lobbying and working with the University to ensure that students are at the heart of the institution.

Our Mission is to Listen, Lobby, Lead, and our strategic plan explains that we aim to do this by; • C reating a strong Guild presence on the issues and affairs that matter to our students.

• Developing our organisational structure to ensure that we can make an outstanding contribution to our members’ lives.

• F orging a dynamic partnership with the University that enhances the Liverpool experience.

• C reating an involvement culture where innovative, life changing opportunities are available to our members.

We hope you find this Report informative. If you’d like to learn more about the Guild, or want to get involved in societies, campaigning, representation or any of the other opportunities, get in touch.

Trustee Board Our Trustee Board is made up of student officers, students and external members. They ensure that the Guild has a clear direction, manages its resources well and complies with the law. During 2010/11, The Guild’s trustees were;

Joshua Wright Patrick Stern Samuel Johnson Klaus Dudas Kathleen Lennon Padraig McNamara Rebecca Jones Gary Walker Berkley Greenwood

Josh Wright President (2010/11)

Neil Hall

3

Guild Life

Liverpool Guild of Students is a student-led, student-focussed organisation with the principles of representation, democracy and informed campaigning at its very heart.

This year, we prioritised understanding what our members think and believe, creating new and innovative ways to canvas their opinions.

During 2010/11, we spoke face to face with over 800 people, getting their opinions on everything from what they’d like to see the Guild provide, to whether they’d had the opportunity to study abroad. The information gathered informed the Guild’s representation at University Committees.

4

In February 2011, over 100 students participated in a series of focus groups, giving feedback on a range of topics including hidden course costs, accommodation fees and volunteering. Courtyard Consultations gave hundreds more students the chance to feed into this consultation.

Their feedback helped us develop our internal practices and lobby the University. For example, the University agreed that in the future all module specifications should detail the cost of taking part in the module.

1000 first year students responded to LGoS’ Induction Survey. Their responses helped us shape the University’s 2011 Induction Program for new students, including the introduction of welcome events in the Guild.

In 2011, Student Council passed a review of democratic structures, creating four new forums, open to all students. From 2011/12, these forums will debate issues, develop ideas and provide direction to Student Council and The Trustee Board, ensuring that students’ views are considered in decision making.

In June 2011, 1899 students took part in the Big Student Survey, answering a wide range of questions on their experience of life at the University of Liverpool. You’ll find some of their responses throughout this report.

5

A Greener Guild In 2011, LGoS were proud to achieve the Gold standard in the Green Impact Awards.

This national accreditation and awards scheme measures unions’ performance in key areas of sustainability, including waste, travel and energy.

The Guild was also awarded the national Green Innovation Award for our roof garden and children’s centre garden plot.

6

Elections

A Sustainable Guild

The annual elections for the Student Representative Officers and student trustees took place in March 2011. 60% of candidates for Student Representative Officers were women.

A key strategic aim of the Guild is to develop our organisational structure to ensure that we can make an outstanding contribution to our members’ lives.

Working in collaboration with Liverpool Students’ Union, elections at both unions saw record breaking turnouts; at LGoS 5200 members voted, an increase from to 3372 in 2010. This amounted to 30% of the student population, and was one of the highest turnouts in the country.

This huge turnout has given officers a real mandate and demonstrates that students care about having an effective Guild. The election attracted national interest, and LSU and LGoS subsequently won NUS’s Technology and Innovation Award for the project.

In 2010/11 LGoS continued its ongoing development, achieving the Investors in People accreditation. The Guild was assessed to have particular strengths in effective management, training and development, communications and positive staff relations.

During the year, LGoS achieved the Silver Best Bar None Award. This award recognises Unions for their exceptional work in promoting safe alcohol retailing and student safety within the late night industry.

LGoS’s sustainability work, and work on supporting Hall Student Committees’ led to securing £20,000 from the University to part fund two new roles; a Halls Student Committee Co-ordinator, and a Sustainability Coordinator.

In 2010/ 11 the Guild became a Charitable Incorporated body, ensuring that the Guild, and so its members, assets and resources are even better protected.

7

The Guild in numbers

17,000 visits to our reception service

8

13,475 tickets sold for society and other

EVENTS

THE GUILD RECEIVES

ÂŁ987,303 block grant

FROM THE UNIVERSITY

OVER 120 student staff employed in the Guild

66% of studentS think it is important for the Guild to be an effective

LOBBYING ORGANISATION

59% of studentS

believe the Guild has had A

positive impact

on their life* *This rises to 68% for Society Committee members and 72% for students registered with Volunteering Liverpool.

9

“ Being around such fun people doing great work that enriches the student experience as well as society has been without doubt the making of my university experience!�

Maggie Hayes, Co Vice Chair Raise and Give (RAG)

10

Societies Life Our student societies are at the heart of the Guild, offering students a chance to try new activities, develop their skills and have fun. Whether you’re interested in performing arts, playing chess, becoming a DJ, campaigning for changes in society, or just meeting like-minded people, with 175 societies to choose from, there is likely to be a group for you.

2010/11 saw 27 new societies and more activity than ever before; this year, our societies have hosted many diverse events and activities including welcome dinners, performances, film showings, awards ceremonies, fundraising

events, interfaith dialogues, and collaborative socials and cultural showcases. Many of these events were held in the Guild; indeed, this year saw more than 1718 hours of room bookings.

This year we talked to societies to learn more about their experience of working with the Guild. Their feedback has enabled us to invest in additional staff to provide support and led to changes in the training we provide.

2011 also saw the launch of the Guild Society Card. Available to all activity group members, the card gave holders access to a wide range of discounts at the Guild.

Society successes • LSMedia were shortlisted for the Website of the Year at the Guardian Student Media Awards • Liverpool University Drama Society (LUDS), performed at the Edinburgh Festival • Ellipsis, the winner of the 2010 Big Pitch Competition, produced their first three editions of their magazine.

• Recycles moved into their new home, in The Nelson Mandela Bar. From this new venue, they have been able to run a series of bicycle repair workshops.

• Working with the Guild, our performing arts societies, secured over £20,000 from The University’s Friend’s Fund. This money has been used to improve the lighting and sound equipment in the Guild’s theatre enabling more societies to put on even higher quality, ambitious performances. LSRadio also successfully bid to the Friend’s Fund to purchase new equipment and promotional materials.

11

12

University Life The Guild exists to represent and make positive change for students and nowhere is this more visible than in our relationship with the University. Through 2010/11, officers, course representatives and student societies sought to work in partnership with the University to improve the student experience.

This work has led to real change that will improve the lives of students across the University.

• F ollowing lobbying, the University dropped plans to automatically charge all hall-residents for sports centre membership, saving residents • T he Guild produced a campaign document ‘So, What About education?’ Outlining a number of key ways the University could improve students’ time here.

Following this, students are now entitled to feedback on all exams.

The report also led to LGoS working with the University’s Educational Development team to develop best practice guidance on Group Work projects.

• S tudent Representative Officers successfully lobbied the University

for change to The Personal Tutor system. The changes mean that specialist academic and pastoral advice is now more easily accessible to students.

• The University has achieved fairtrade status In December 2010, LGoS was asked to carry out student consultation on the University’s strategic plan.

Research concentrated on the physical environment of the university, how to create a global university, the induction process and customer service. The results were presented to the University’s Senior Management Team, and informed their planning.

There are around 600 course representatives across the institution.

In 2010/11, LGoS successfully secured contact details for around 500 of these, facilitating regular communication. A number of training sessions were run, training around 200 representatives. These sessions gave participants the skills they needed to be effective in their role.

In 2011, LGoS worked with Liverpool Student Union to run a joint postgraduate event. This gave students an opportunity to share best practice and network.

13

Liverpool Life Making up 10% of the city’s population, students play an important part in Liverpool. At LGoS, volunteering is an evergrowing area, and a key way people choose to get to know the city better.

In summer 2011, a group of Guild Staff and officers spent the day at Belvedere Community Activity Centre, painting the building and clearing the outside areas.

Volunteering Liverpool

In 2010/11, Volunteering Liverpool went from strength to strength.

This online service is a partnership between Hope University, Liverpool Community College, LJMU, Liverpool Students’ Union, Liverpool Volunteer Centre and LGoS and enables charities to register their volunteering opportunities, and students to sign up for them. During the year over 1400 students registered on the site (up from 574 in 2009/10) and more than 205 community organisations offered volunteering opportunities.

14

LGoS Volunteering Projects

2011 saw the launch of a new volunteering project. Working in conjunction with Liverpool Student Union, the Guild secured £8000.00 from Liverpool City Council to fund Leave Liverpool Tidy. This project aimed to collect and redistribute items and belongings that students would usually throw away at the end of the academic year. It is estimated that around 3 tonnes was diverted from landfill.

Supporting Volunteers

Throughout the year, we worked with volunteers to develop how we support them to get the most from their time at the Guild. Their feedback has changed the way we deliver training and how we reward and thank volunteers.

“ I have really enjoyed this voluntary experience so far, because it has allowed me to build on the skills, which I already have as well as learn new ones along the way. I have also received a lot of support from the staff, while I have been working at Liverpool Guild of Students and I would recommend this placement to anyone because it is a really good thing to do and the staff are amazing.�

Jo Lewis, Volunteering Liverpool Project Volunteer

15